'Soul Soldiers' exhibit to open at Civil Rights Museum

Display shines light on 'role of blackness' in Vietnam War

The "Soul Soldiers" exhibit opening Monday at the National Civil Rights Museum features more than a dozen photos taken by Wallace Terry, a black war correspondent for TIME magazine. This 1969 photo is of Vietnam soldiers in Camp Tien Sha. Hekalu means "temple" in Swahili.

The Vietnam War divided not only peace activists from the hawkish supporters of the domino theory in Southeast Asia, it also turned war into a civil rights issue with racial tensions in the United States spilling into the rice paddies of Vietnam.

Those issues are front and center in the "Soul Soldiers" exhibit opening Monday at the National Civil Rights Museum on the holiday observing the birthday of King, an outspoken critic of the war and the role black soldiers were forced to play in Vietnam.

The exhibit was assembled by Samuel L. Black, curator of the African American Collection at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. Compiled in 2006, it has traveled to museums in Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Richmond and Birmingham. It makes its Memphis debut with the effects of the Vietnam War still resonating on the streets of America, especially among African-American veterans.

Don't expect a documentary of the war itself, Black says: "It is not about the war. It's really almost a social commentary about the role of blackness in the Vietnam War."

Part of the exhibit is drawn from the writings of Wallace Terry, a black war correspondent for TIME and a Pulitzer Prize nominee for his wartime coverage. Terry wrote the book "Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans."

"Wallace Terry called the front lines 'Soulville,' " says Black. Wherever black soldiers came together, they thought of themselves as blood brothers, bound by "a black culture transferred from the United States to Southeast Asia."

In small but culturally significant ways, they were closely knit. They popularized what they called the "dap," a series of handshakes, hugs, chest taps, head taps and sayings such as "Right on." With the dap, a soldier could silently communicate to another soldier his rank, his unit, whether he had been injured, how he was doing.

"The dap reinforced the bond among returning soldiers since no one was greeting them when they came back (to the United States)," says Black of widespread disdain for Vietnam veterans who were often depicted as "baby-killers" or drug addicts.

Terry, who has since died, was often accompanied to Vietnam by his wife, Janice, who served as a "sounding board" and unofficial editor for him. She says he had written the book in 1972, but received more than 100 rejections before meeting with a Random House editor in 1980 who suggested he turn the book into an oral history. Instead of writing in a question-and-answer format, he turned the oral histories into mini narratives.

"They read like short stories, and you can't help but be touched by each story," says Janice Terry, now 71. "I would go to sleep and these people would come alive in my dreams. He'd finish a chapter, and we'd go to an Italian restaurant up the street and I'd read it, and we'd both cry."

For the exhibit, she contributed her husband's typewriter and copies of his book, his camera, photographs, magazine stories and "Black Power" flags that black soldiers placed inside their "hootches," the Vietnamese term they adapted for their barracks.

The soldiers were always challenged by the Vietnamese communists, who left leaflets urging African-Americans to go AWOL.

Black says King, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and others soon realized African-Americans especially were being put in harm's way. There were more than 58,000 U.S. service members killed in the war. Of those, 7,262 — 12.5 percent — were African-American. At the time of the war, black residents made up about 11 percent of the U.S. population.

But King's protest and others grew during certain phases, including 1967-68, when African-Americans were dispatched to the front lines in higher proportions. Janice Terry says soldiers on the front lines, black and white, "were fighting together. But in the rear areas things were different. There were Confederate flags flying around and cruel and nasty things said about Martin Luther King."

Black says activists complained of the "poor man's war," with blacks often targeted after an arrest. One example in the exhibit is an Ohio football scholarship player. When he lost his scholarship and had to drop out of college, "he and three or four of his friends got drafted the same day."

Black says the exhibit only barely deals with the plight of veterans after the war, but Ron Armstead, executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Braintrust, says blacks have suffered far worse than whites.

"The social-economic indicators we have now — 40 years after the war — indicate that approximately 50 percent of homeless veterans are African-American," Armstead says, adding that 1993 estimates were that 250,000 veterans were sleeping on the streets on any given night, with 42 percent of them African-Americans.

Visit museum for $2

In commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, admission to the National Civil Rights Museum Monday is $2 instead of regular general admission of $13. The "Soul Soldiers" exhibit is included in the price of admission.

Other King events

Monday

The 25th annual holiday parade will begin at 10 a.m. at Main and Auction. The parade route is south on Main to Exchange, east on Exchange to Second, south on Second to Beale and east on Beale to W. C. Handy Park, where a "Montgomery to Memphis" rally and program will be held. The Commission on Religion and Racism expects approximately 1,000 participants.

The Catholic Diocese of Memphis hosts a celebration at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 1695 Central, with the theme "Audacity to Dream!" Bishop J. Terry Steib will preside over the celebration that begins at 10 a.m. Father Anthony Bozeman of New Orleans is the keynote speaker. There will also be performances by the Overton High School Mixed Choir and the Nubian Theatre Company.

LeMoyne-Owen College will hold a community-wide cleanup from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Volunteers will meet at the Alma C. Hanson Student Center on the campus at 807 Walker. Around 100 employees from local companies will cover various neighborhoods surrounding the South Memphis campus.

The Greater Memphis Area chapter of Blacks In Government will feed the homeless at the Memphis Union Mission, 383 Poplar, from noon to 1 p.m. The free meal is a community service project by the organization in recognition of MLK Day of Service.

The Children's Museum of Memphis celebration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. includes face painting, arts and crafts and activities. Included with museum admission.

The youth group BRIDGES will sponsor a day of service from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the center at 477 N. Fifth Street. Cost is $5. Register online at bridgesusa.org.

A Pilgrimage of Hope for Memphis will start at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral with a screening of "At the River I Stand," a documentary about the Memphis sanitation workers, followed by a discussion led by Church of the Holy Communion parishioner and Rhodes history professor Tim Huebner from 10 a.m. to noon. Lunch will be served; donations accepted. Participants then will work on a community-building experience in Binghamton from 1 to 3 p.m. presented by Memphis School of Servant Leadership and the Center for Transforming Communities. There will be an interfaith worship service at 6 p.m. at Holy Communion. Featured will be BRIDGES youth, Rev. Keith Norman of First Baptist Church-Broad and a candle litany of prayers for the Memphis community. A nursery will be provided for infants and young children during 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. events. For details, call Holy Communion at 767-6987 or send an e-mail to pilgrimageofhopeformemphis@gmail.com.

The Church of God in Christ will pay tribute to Dr. King and the denomination's founder, Bishop Charles H. Mason, during "A Night of Dialogue, Inspiration, and Reflection." The celebration will be at the historic Mason Temple, 930 Mason, beginning at 7 p.m. Dr. Robert Franklin, president of Morehouse College in Atlanta, will be the keynote speaker. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 355-9009 or visit cogic.org.

Wednesday

"Documenting '68: The Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike Collection" will be presented at noon Wednesday in Special Collections on the fourth floor of the Ned R. McWherter Library at the University of Memphis. Ed Frank, associate professor of libraries/preservation and special collections, will discuss this pivotal year in American history in an hourlong presentation.